[AT] WC transmission, dodged a bullet

william.neff.powell at comcast.net william.neff.powell at comcast.net
Mon Nov 24 06:47:57 PST 2008


Yes, the plug is at the lowest point and a petcock would get broken off... 

I hear you about the plugs not threading in. After finding the water on the WC yesterday I went and checked my D17, The gear lube was a little milky but not too bad. Of course I had a tough time threading the plug back in and got gear lube all over the sleeve of my sweatshirt... Nothing like the smell of gear lube to brighten your day!

I have an old HD6G bulldozer that always concerns me because the hydraulic fluid is milky... Last year I pulled the plug to check it... The fluid pored out on my hand and it was so cold it made my fingers numb. I think I lost three gallons of fluid before I got the plug back on.... Though, I think that the drain plug there is safe from obstruction so I may try a petcock... If it does break off while operating I will know about it when the lift bucket stops working... Unlike the plug on a transmission where the leakage could go undetected and result in catastrophic failure.... 

Will
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Indiana Robinson" <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
> On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 8:03 AM,  <william.neff.powell at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Just posted this on allischalmers.com so delete it if you have already read it 
> on that site...
> >
> > Just thought I would re-post the content here.
> >
> > Started my 39 WC to pull my trailer around last week. I usually drive it every 
> two to three months, sometimes more, sometimes less. Pretty cold this year in 
> Southeast Pennsylvania. Saturday I had trouble getting it in reverse, drove it 
> around a while and eventually it engaged... Finished my work and parked it in 
> first.
> >
> > Yesterday it was colder, got on the WC to move the trailer again and I could 
> not pull the lever out of first. Tried moving forward, load on engine, no 
> movement. Pulled the lever near the seat that disconnects the rear and tried 
> letting the clutch out, load on engine, not movement. Also PTO Shaft would not 
> turn by hand. At that point I knew there was water in the transmission.
> >
> > Ran the tractor for about an hour with a cover on the radiator, got things 
> warmed up but not in the transmission, still no movement. Got a small propane 
> torch put it on low and had it torch the bottom drain plug for about and hour. 
> PTO shaft would turn, shifter came out of first. Moved the tractor and drove it 
> around a little bit and then took out the drain plug... Whoosh, about 1 gallon 
> of water came flowing out. After the rush of water brown thick oil that looked 
> like taffy slowly flowed out. After two hours the oil was still working its way 
> out.
> >
> > I have heard about WC's busting the PTO gear box, and now I can see why. I 
> don't think the water got in there through condensation, thought that can 
> happen. The WC sits outside and is mostly tarped. Two years ago I did pull the 
> PTO plug and it had beautiful gear lube, no water. I have recently replaced the 
> rubber shifting boot and most of the water probably came in with the old one. 
> But, I can see that water could run down the shift lever and trickle down 
> through the reverse mechanism....
> >
> > If the temperature had gotten a little lower I believe something would have 
> cracked. So, if you live in a cold environment and your WC stays outside, you 
> may want to pull the plug and see what comes out...
> >
> > Regards, Will Powell
> > Pottstown, PA
> > _______________________________________________
> =========================
> 
> 
> 
> We had some extensive discussions about this on all tractors many
> years ago. It is a shame that the housings were not built with a
> simple bleed off valve at the low point where you could bleed off the
> water on a regular basis after the tractor had been sitting for a
> while. Unfortunately most drain plugs are located where any valve
> installed there would be at risk of being broken off. In most cases I
> don't believe that the lube that has gotten a little milky will do any
> really serious harm to the tractor (or 60% of them would have fallen
> apart by now) but that ice can wreak havoc.
> I don't know if we currently have any chemical specialist on the
> list... but I have wondered at times if a dab of some sort of product,
> even maybe common antifreeze, might be able to avoid ice forming and
> prevent rust without chemically destroying the lube???
> I occasionally pull the drain plug on one for a few seconds to drain
> out the water after one has sat long enough to separate. The trouble
> is that simple plug can suddenly become the hardest thing on the
> planet to operate and sometimes absolutely refuses to thread back in
> to stop the lube from coming out. Its one of those jinx things like
> saying out loud that something is running great.   :-)
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> --
> "farmer"
> 
> "Good clean muck never hurt nobody!!!"
> Morris Moulterd
> 
> 
> Hay and Straw Exchange (Buy it, sell it and trade it.)
> http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HayandStrawExchange
> 
> 
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
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